Hot-shot Hernandez to spearhead Mexico’s Wembley challenge

Manchester United's new boy striker is ready to show England what he’s made of when Mexico visit Wembley this week

Mexico's Javier Hernandez will be a threat to England's makeshift defence (Action Images)
When Mexico kick off the 2010 World Cup in Soccer City, Soweto, in 19 days,
nobody will be able to accuse them of being underprepared. Their warm-up
match against England tomorrow will be their ninth friendly since the new
year. A further three matches are scheduled before they meet South Africa on
June 11.

Part of the thinking behind this intensive build-up is that with so many
games, the young contingent under Javier Aguirre, the head coach, will by
then have been fast-tracked to maturity in international football.

Aguirre believes he is in charge of “the best young players in Mexico’s
history”, adding, to remind those who may have forgotten, that “they are
world champions”. Mexico’s under-17s won the World Cup in that age group
five years ago, a triumph in which the stars included Carlos Vela, of
Arsenal, and Giovani Dos Santos, recently of Tottenham Hotspur and now at